


Aut viam inveniam aut faciam

by lucifers_grace



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Gen, Manipulation, No animals came to harm during creation of this fic, but we stan, except a beetle or two, lucio is still a bad person, somebody had to write this okay, spoiler for julian's upright ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-31 16:42:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17853335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucifers_grace/pseuds/lucifers_grace
Summary: Have you ever felt your time trickling away? Almost like a ticking noise in your head, as you lay on the bed, just waiting for it to stop. Distinctly, you understood – when it stops, so will your heart. At first, that thought scares you, you do not want to die. But the more days, weeks pass, the more inviting the idea seems to you. The longer your body aches when you move your arm, the more you long for Death’s cool embrace. Maybe it would not be so bad.





	Aut viam inveniam aut faciam

**Author's Note:**

> SPOILER! For the Upside Ending / Paid Choice of Julian’s Route
> 
> Nobody:  
> Seth: Write something about the whole force feeding a plague bettle incident. Enjoy.

_Have you ever felt your time trickling away? Almost like a ticking noise in your head, as you lay on the bed, just waiting for it to stop. Distinctly, you understood – when it stops, so will your heart. At first, that thought scares you, you do not want to die. But the more days, weeks pass, the more inviting the idea seems to you. The longer your body aches when you move your arm, the more you long for Death’s cool embrace. Maybe it would not be so bad._

Lucio was not known to impose on such ideas. And he was not. He wanted to live, he did. He had to, Vesuvia depended on him. Yet, on days like this, he could barely open his eyes. They were almost swollen shut, red and brimming with tears caused by the pain that had taken hold of his body lately. The thin layer of sweat was omnipresent on his skin, on good days he could stay upright long enough take a bath. It was of little use, the plague waging war in his body made sure of that.

For a few days now, he had not been able to lift a finger. Of his right arm, anyway. The mechanical prosthetic worked just fine, it took no muscle. Lucio spent hours of sleepless nights holding the arm above his head, watching the golden joints move. His only entertainment these days, nobody wanted to be near the highly contagious count. Nobody, except his doctor anyway. And even he was rather reluctant.

Julian was a good doctor. But slow. Slower than the ticking in Lucio’s head. No amount of threats seemed to spur him on. He sighed and swatted one of those god forsaken beetles off his shoulder. Weren’t they quite bothersome?

_Maybe it would not be so bad. A lie you can tell yourself. But it remains a lie and deep down, you know it. Desperation grows in your heart with each day that feels the same as the ones before. But with desperation comes creativity. There had to be a way, did it not?_

Julian, on the other hand, was trying. Earnestly. He spent the same sleepless nights as Lucio locked away in his office. Frantically tearing his hair out on the hunt of the cure. It was just there, on the tip of his tongue. On some days, he could almost taste it. Then it was gone again. He sighed when he unlocked the door. More leeches then. Facing Lucio had become complicated by now. Had the old count been hard to deal with before, with the illness he had become unbearable. Sometimes, Julian found himself wish he would just be dead when he entered the chamber. A thought he banished from his mind, though it kept returning.

“I’m sorry, Sir, there has been no progress. But leeches may - “  
“Do you know where you can shove your leeches?”  
“Sir, please - “  
“Go. And don’t come back before you have something to show me.”  
Julian sighed and left.

_There was no shortcoming of ideas you could come up with to prolong your life. Most of them useless, far too fantastic to be possible. But at least it gave you something to do, when you let your imagination run wild. Something that was not feeling the life leave your body, anyhow. Maybe you just had to be daring. Yes, yes that had to be it. Be fed or be eaten. You do not want to be eaten, do you?_

The beetles were everywhere now, mocking him. He already had the plague, they needn’t serve as a constant reminder. “At least tell me what to do!” The only response was the rattling noise of six legs crawling up and down a metallic arm. It did not tell him a way out of it. But it gave him an idea, nonetheless. When the beetle made an attempt to cross his palm, Lucio closed his hand around it. Then he called for a servant - it was time for dinner, anyway.

_You have done terrible things before. Plenty of them, most of them for your own good. This one was different. It would save your life, sure. But could it truly be called selfish when it helped a whole city?_

Julian usually received something to eat when he worked. If he was to slave away until the inevitable happened, at least he would do so well fed. The servant found him in the library, buried deep into a plethora of medical journals. “It is something special, today.” The young woman smiled. “As an apology, the Count said.” She did not specify what for and Julian could think of a number of incidents that would require an apology. He thanked her nonetheless.

The stew was good indeed, but then again, the food always was. Garnished with something Julian had thought to be red berries, but could not identify upon tasting it. Dry, almost tasteless aside from a hint of bitterness. He would have to ask Lucio about it when he went to accept his apology.

But first, back to work. He coughed a little, then got up to close the library window. It had become quite cold in the room.

**Author's Note:**

> [Requests open!](https://astravas.tumblr.com/post/182755690994/open-requests)


End file.
